Chiron – The Wound and Original Sin

Posted on March 7, 2016Posted by Jim Sher

The following article was published on Aug. 4, 2012. While it was written primarily for astrology readers at that time, it is just as relevant for students of metaphysics, transpersonal or transformational psychology, and spiritual evolution. I am re-publishing it now so that it might be read in a new, fresh way.

I’d like to continue writing about not only the nature of Chiron and its wound, but more importantly, to take a beginning look at the nature of the transition from Saturn consciousness to outer planet (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) consciousness. I believe that tiny Chiron represents that process, which Ken Wilber seems to call Centauric consciousness, and that its discovery means that the mass consciousness may be ready to begin incorporating and actually living this transformative, but demanding paradigm shift. When a new planetary body is discovered, I don’t think it means that the archetype has never appeared before. In this case, it would be absurd to believe that the shift we can now calling ‘Chironic’ has never existed on this planet. Ancient wisdom has clearly existed for millennia. But, perhaps, the human race is now ready to begin to resonate with this process, which makes us rather privileged to have this opportunity.

An important question to examine is whether or not all astrological meanings must come from mythology. Actually, there are at least three ways astrologers arrive at the meaning of these archetypes. There is the mythological approach which has been used for thousands of years. The second is perhaps the most obvious. People simply pay close attention to what is happening on the earth in relationship to what is happening in the sky. There is a maxim that we learn from the moment we begin to study astrology – “As above, so below, as below so above, but after a different manner.” In the act of observing over many years, we learn what the nature of these correspondences is. Finally, there is a third approach that is just as valid as the first two.

This approach focuses on the use of a holistic approach. But, what does the word ‘holistic’ really mean? Holistic astrologers do not just break the signs, houses and other principles into separate unrelated principles. Instead, we regard each part as an aspect of the entire ‘whole.’ For example, houses are interpreted both as a cause and an effect of what the previous house represents. And the following house is viewed as the next development of what started in the first one. Each house is an aspect of the whole circle. This means one cannot fully understand a ‘house’ by itself alone. Another example is in the use of Moon cycles which can be divided into 8 parts, which become an archetypal symbol for all cycles of action. These principles can then be applied to transits and progressions, and in many other ways.

So, in this approach we start with ‘unity’ and having done so we have made a very important statement philosophically. We now regard everything as connected to everything else.

I am writing all of this in order to prepare us for the notion that the best way to understand the tiny rock called Chiron is to simply look at where it is located in the entire solar system. My view is that the solar system should be considered as a ‘whole’ system rather than as separate parts. This is why the fact that Chiron is located between Saturn and Uranus is more important than the mythology behind Chiron. When we add to that the fact that in the Chiron mythology the great Centaur is a great healer long before being wounded is a very revealing notion.

As I began to show in the previous article, Chiron’s discovery led to an increase in holistic thinking in health and medicine, philosophy, psychology, etc. Alternative medicine began to grow in influence and is still gaining ground. So, what is the nature of Chiron’s healing and is there a wound attached to it? As many of you have written in your responses to the previous article, Chiron does include dealing with some sort of wound that causes very deep adjustments and perhaps discoveries. This suggests that the Chironic principle is connected to a kind of healing that is holistic in nature and is completely connected to the awareness of the existence of an underlying ‘Unity’ in all of life and its processes. Perhaps this realization is itself part of the ‘healing’ process.

Chiron as a Transitional Phase

Before we can leap into a totally new paradigm, must we not discover what we are dealing with? That’s exactly what G.I. Gurdjieff proposed. He told his students that they were missing a very important step. He said that there was a journey to be made by each person that would lead towards being able to BEGIN to do “Real Work.” Most people didn’t want to hear that. So, what is that missing step that is a journey of its own? He was quite clear that a person was controlled by ‘many I’s’ and that before one could begin, it was necessary to see the truth of that. Further, that human beings were asleep to their true nature. At other times he spoke of the idea that people had amnesia and had forgotten who they are. This is a central theme in Gnosticism, which was popular in early Christianity before the Church structure took control.

I regard Chiron as a process that informs a person, should they decide to engage in it, of exactly where they really are. It is a transitional phase that reveals wounds or what Gurdjieff called ‘buffers’, and what Wilhelm Reich called ‘armor’ and others have called all sorts of things which block our own direct knowing of ourselves as full Beings. Further, that each of us is wounded in some way which makes the principle of wounding universal rather than just our own personal issues. What one finds is that just being human brings these about and that if one desires to commit to a transformational process that it is a universal one, each of us have our personal ‘wounds’ to release.

Wounds are certainly experienced personally and we do identify with them. But, in the Chironic process and beyond, we begin to see that these wounds are an unavoidable aspect of being human. They need not define or control us. They most certainly do not need to be regarded as ‘MY’ wounds.

Original Sin

Perhaps we are not equipped to understand the esoteric understanding of ‘original sin.’ That’s where the Chironic process can lead us though. Religions have used this concept to create organizations that control people by convincing them to believe that they are sinners who need the Church’s help in order to become ‘saved.’ This is pure manipulation and is not the real sin. What the esotericicsts know is that the so-called ‘sin’ is simply the blindness that arises from being born into this world and losing the awareness that we are already Whole, Spirit, Enlightened or the many different words that describe our true non-dual nature, which is a state of Unity. Mostly that we are not mere bodies, but Souls that have our knowing of who we are.

As we engage in this process we begin to be introduced to ‘higher understandings’ which takes us into the outer planet realms or what Rudhyar called ‘galactic consciousness.’ He felt that the outer planets were portals to a much greater participation in the universe. Yes, all of this leads to greater ‘wholeness’, but what made him so brilliant is his understanding that there is a universal “Rhythm of Wholeness,” which describes a movement between what he called Unity and Multiplicity. This is the constant interplay between ‘Being’ and ‘Becoming,’ that it is our Divine right to play. But, to play, we must become aware of who we are and must cease to be solely identified with one side of the Life process. That means that our personal woundedness must be seen as a part of the condition of ‘being here.’ It is at that point that we can discover that the real wound is arising from the fact that we are cut off from our true nature.

There’s not one concept I’ve expressed here that didn’t exist before Chiron was discovered. But, if you look at the number of different therapies that have emerged since the late 70’s, some of which deal with these very things, and then add the emergence of alternative health practices, one sees that a new paradigm is coming forth as part of a human potential movement that might have deep spiritual aspects. To me, of even greater importance is the popularizing of ancient wisdom. I am referring to an increased interest in all sorts of so-called new age things like learning to have out-of-body experiences, channeling or literally being in contact with life forms of greater intelligence, and of the many ways we can personally discover our true nature as immortal beings. So, then what is the nature of the real and ultimate wound as well as the biggest irony?

That we are ‘Immortal Beings’ trying to Survive?.?.

Jim brings over 35 years of experience as a therapist and transformational counselor to his practice of astrology, metaphysics, meditation and philosophy. He operates as a teacher and counselor and specializes in the use of discourse as a part of his teaching approach.

12 responses to “Chiron – The Wound and Original Sin”

JIm, I can definitely relate to Chiron’s Centauric consciousness – and not the least because my Sun is in Sagittarius. I have been sensing Chiron’s gentle guidance in my transition from Saturn consciousness to outer planet awareness in the last few years. Ironically, it was in August 2012 that my journey on this path began in earnest, a few weeks after you originally posted this article. However, I did not encounter it until now. Thanks for re-posting this article now!

I find the holistic approach to gleaning astrological meanings the most compelling, as its concept of unity and connectedness reminds me of chaos theory’s butterfly effect. Thanks for lucidly revealing Chiron’s true purpose in the cosmic scheme of life. Of course, I’m still in the process of releasing “my” share of “wounds,” while not letting them define me. Yet, awakening to unity consciousness feels like a very liberating and enlivening blessing.

Also, Dane Rudhyar’s notion of the universal “Rhythm of Wholeness” sounds like music to my ears. It evokes a vision of the orchestra of life, with its various instruments playing their parts solo, before awakening to their place in the larger panorama of the cosmic music’s network. I suppose it wasn’t an accident that Rudhyar was an actual composer.

Being cut off from my true nature has been quite painful, but I already hear Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” playing in the distance, as I shed my wounds for the outer planets to bring me into the fold of ‘galactic consciousness.’

Hi, Jim – everyone, just appreciating the piece, the dialogue. As a 70 year old woman with Chiron (and Neptune) conjunct her Libran ascendant, I’ve actively explored Healer and Wound (40 years? now?!) For me, too, the ‘wound’ is part of the human inheritance: As we incarnate, literally assume ‘form’(limitation) from formlessness, there is loss of the sense of innate Divine Whole-y-ness –a piercing of the heart. “Original sin” is that “error,” missing of the mark, forgetting our True Nature. I’ve found a “blueprint” in that piercing, however, for all the possibilities by which that common hurt –moulded by all the other hurts we endure that complicate the “wound” in a lifetime–– eventually becomes Realized as the Gift of Love/Service each of us uniquely is, and can bring to life. Namaste, Marcia

I nearly missed reading your article, drowning in extraneous emails, and I am so glad I found it. I concur with those who have already spoken of how thoughtful and lovely your article is. I would add that I find your positive, hopeful approach, as you gently talk, in a sense, about each of us taking responsibility for ourselves, to be so motivating and energizing. I am much more a carrot then a stick person and I greatly appreciate your “carrot” approach. Thank you.

This well expressed article brings up a question, an astrological question that has been haunting me for a while. The chart is a map of potentials – correct? And how we ‘live’ with these potentials creates our experience. The question I have, especially in context of this essay, is how do we find our strengths in a chart? Those tools that ‘life’ has given us to express our potential positively rather then negatively? Those strengths that carry us forward, rather then the weaknesses that pull us back?

Interesting article. I remember in 2000 when Chiron conjuncted Pluto and many thought this was the official beginning of the New Age! There’s a great book on Chiron called Chiron and the Healing Journey by Melanie Reinhart.

Wow! What an article! I can very much relate….our wounds, pains & frustrations do arise thru experiences in which we experience human limitation, which arises from our forgotten divine nature!
I found it interesting that you pinpointed Chiron as the “key” to the Saturnian gate into higher dimensions. Didn’t realize Chiron was located there. A few years ago, I gave a talk arguing that the transitioning process was a Jupiter-Saurn exchange. Interestingly, your Centauric illustration appears to be Sag (Jupiter. In my talk I stated that our belief systems (Jupiter) are challenged by reality (Saturn) in this transitioning stage. Through the Law of Attraction, we create based on our beliefs. We can say we believe one thing, but if reality or saturn (our universal mirror) reflects differently, then we haven’t gotten there yet. Once the belief and experience match, then the”key” is turned and the gate opened–thus we have transitioned from our lower ego energies into higher energies of intuition, compassion, and spirital power. The process is a test to determine if we are mature enough to handle these powers through self-control and discipline of mind and spiritual energy. That which we think and blieve can be destructive to others and ourselves. Reflecting on Chiron, I can see the two stages working hand in hand. Chiron asks us to reflect on what we believe about ourselves.

I am especially grateful for this article. Uranus has been dancing between my Venus and Chiron in Aries conjunct midheaven for the past few years now. Uranus has jolted Venus @ 4 degrees several times and touched on my opposing Pluto in Libra. But it has yet to reach Chiron @ 10 degrees and MID @ 15 degrees. You have given me much to reflect on in preparation for this direct conjunction coming up! Thank you!

This is the most incredible, in-depth article that you have ever written. As an amateur astrologer, I am very appreciative of the fact that you have connected the presence of Chiron in the world of astrology to the deeper meaning of our presence on this earth, and the meaning of our existence. Thank you!

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